Biofeedback is a treatment technique in which people can balance their nervous system by using signals from their own bodies. Clinical biofeedback techniques have grown out of early laboratory procedures used to train research subjects to alter brain activity, blood pressure, heart rate, and other body functions that normally were considered involuntarily. Physical therapists use biofeedback to help stroke victims regain movement in paralyzed muscles.

Psychologists use biofeedback to help tense and anxious clients learn how to relax. Clients learn by watching monitoring instruments attached to their body that record changes in their physiology. Initially, these monitoring devices are used to measure subtle body changes and make them apparent to the client, who begins to learn how to better control these responses. Eventually, the client attains better self-regulation without the aid of these devices.

Chances are you have used biofeedback yourself. If you have ever taken your temperature or stepped on a scale, you are using a simple kind of biofeedback. Like a pitcher learning to throw a ball across a home plate, the biofeedback trainee, in an attempt to improve a skill, monitors the performance. When a pitch is off the mark, the ballplayer adjusts the delivery so that he performs better the next time he tries. When the computer display flashes, the biofeedback trainee makes internal adjustments, which alter the signals. The biofeedback therapist acts as a coach, standing at the sidelines setting goals and limits on what to expect and giving hints on how to improve performance.

Research has demonstrated that biofeedback can help in the treatment of many conditions, especially stress-associated illnesses. We now know that we have more control over so-called involuntary body functions and states of consciousness than we ever thought possible. Clients usually are taught some form of relaxation exercise. They learn to identify the circumstances that trigger their symptoms. Clients are also coached on how to avoid or cope with these stressful events. Biofeedback is not magic. It cannot by itself cure disease or make a person happy. It is a tool that reminds client and doctor alike that thoughts and feelings profoundly influence physical health.